Tesla Rehires Director of North America Charging, Sources Say

Tesla has started rehiring some of the nearly 500 members of its Supercharging team that were laid off in April, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.

Max de Zegher, who served as the director of charging for North America, has returned. De Zegher, along with Rebecca Tinucci, the senior director, was among the top managers let go by Musk, who dismissed almost everyone in the charging group.

De Zegher has joined Tesla back in 2013 as Product Specialist in the Sales team based in London. Two years later, he moved to New York to serve as Project Manager for the Charging Infrastructure, Northeast & Canada.

Last Friday, Elon Musk wrote on X that Tesla will spend “well over $500M expanding the Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers” in 2024.

“That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher,” he added.

Two weeks ago, the company cut hundreds of positions in its charging team, a move that saw the departure of Rebecca Tinucci, who served as the senior Director of Charging. Tinucci, who had been with the company for six years, was part of a team of 500 individuals affected by the restructuring.

Bloomberg noted that the exact number of rehired workers is not immediately clear at this moment.

Last Friday, Tesla emailed its customers in Australia to provide an update on Supercharging amidst growing concerns about service quality following layoffs.

In the email sent to Australian customers, Tesla reiterated that the “network will continue to be expanded” adding that all the sites which are currently under construction “will be completed and put into operation”.

In the email [complete memo below], Tesla said the Supercharger network “is still core to its mission” as costs reduction and increased efficiency remain a priority for the company.

Last week, BP Pulse America CEO said the company “is aggressively seeking to acquire real estate to expand the network, which is a top priority following the recent Tesla announcement.”

The oil giant aims to build Gigahubs with 12 or more chargers and a total of more than 3,0o0 charging points across the US. The invesment is planned to reach $1 billion with half of the amount being used in the next two or three years.

“If there are real estate partners interested in collaboration, they are encouraged to contact me directly or connect via LinkedIn,” said Sujay Sharma told Bloomberg.